State Officials Urge Patience For H1N1 Vaccine

So far, Kentucky has received 73-thousand doses of the H1N1, or swine flu, vaccine. Sixty-percent is in nasal form. The remaining 40-percent is injectable. But State Epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh says that’s only about enough to vaccinate one to two percent of the state’s population.

“The good news is that CDC has sent us a revised schedule and they’re actually stepping up their distributors’ process and they expect to process the orders much quicker, or at least a bit quicker, than they have in the past,” he says.

Humbaugh is confident there eventually will be enough swine flu vaccine to go around, and the availability will rise as we get into November and December. Swine flu is now widespread both in Kentucky and nationally, but health officials say it still hasn’t proven more virulent than seasonal flu.